Based on the painted runes and small animal bones decorating the exterior of the house, Navi expected more of the same on the inside. The shamans she’d visited before fell squarely in the hippie category and their houses reflected the bones, herbs and dust sort of magic they practiced. Not this guy.
His modern interior of black cabinetry, silver hardware, leather furniture and cream carpets was the first breath of urban living she’d gotten since she arrived here. While the Red Rock and Silver Springs packs leaned toward the rustic approach in their abodes, this place cost money. Navi wouldn’t lie—it set off her internal alarms left and right.
“Want a cup of coffee?” Joe asked, heading into a kitchen that was all chrome backsplashes and porcelain tiled floors.
“How about a pot?” Finn asked, sauntering past her as he scanned the room. Even with the casual way he walked, his hands slipped into his pockets and shoulders back, the glow of vigilance hadn’t faded from his eyes. She doubted the tension would leave him until Finn ripped out Dale Rossi’s throat with his own fangs.
Their shaman friend set about to brewing a pot of coffee and, despite her concerns and the wary way she watched him pour out the roast, she could use a pick-me-up. She had gotten up far too early and the effects of her first two cups of java were wearing off.
“So, care to explain why I’ve got a member of the East Coast Tribe showing up on my doorstep this time of morning?” Joe asked, focusing on filling the coffeemaker with water. He pressed the button down and the machine let out a hiss, but he didn’t look at her. No, not the slightest bit shady.
“Because Dale Rossi is distributing drugs in this territory courtesy of the Landsliders,” Finn spoke up, leaving finesse and tact at the back door. Navi restrained her internal groan, rolling with the punches. Joe didn’t look their way, didn’t offer any surprise, and he also wasn’t brimming with curiosity.
“I don’t see how the drug runners of this region are any of my concern,” Joe responded, leaning against his counter while the coffeemaker spat out tar-colored liquid, the robust scent curling through the room. His stance remained guarded, as it had been the moment they showed up. Not like his caution revealed any form of duplicity—anyone would be on edge with a random visit from the Tribe, and shamans doubly so.
Navi reached into her barely functional jeans pocket and tugged out a thumb-sized bag of white powder. “Because a shaman in this area happens to be working with them,” she said, taking a cue from the Finn Kelly handbook and going straight for the kill. “I’d like to know if you’re the one behind this magicked meth.”
Joe still hadn’t looked at her and Navi’s claws pricked out at the ready, even though she kept her hands down.
“You’ll have to bust down some other shaman’s door,” he said, remaining unruffled. “I stick to my own business out here.” He poured three mugs of coffee before offering one to her and another to Finn. She sniffed the dark liquid on instinct, not trusting him in the slightest.
“I’ll pay a visit to one of the shaman elders then,” Navi said. Two could play at unruffled. Heading to the shaman elders would be inconvenient and take longer than she wanted, but he didn’t need to know that. “They can trace whose magic is threaded through this meth and we can resolve this mystery quick and tidy-like.” Navi watched, and waited. Try to maneuver out of that, jackass. Finn snorted at her side, a solid reminder to rope him in on a poker game so she could clean house.
Joe’s grip tightened on his coffee mug until his knuckles were almost the same color as the porcelain. “I didn’t have a choice,” he murmured, meeting her gaze at last. Shame tugged at his frown, and his dark eyes burned with restrained anger. “It’s not like we’ve got packs out here, or anyone else to protect us. My magic might be strong, but I’m not a match for an entire pack of shifters at my doorstep.”
“Work with us and your situation will be taken into consideration,” Navi commanded, her tone coming with the icy cool of her position. “Continue to protect Rossi and we’ll haul you in now.” Beside her, Finn tensed with readiness. Slight modifications to his stance—a pivot to his hip and a hunch forward. When she gave the signal, his wolf would be unleashed on this asshole before he could open his mouth to chant. Navi clenched her jaw, sweeping away the thought he was her anything as her stomach twisted.
Joe heaved a sigh, and his shoulders sank with resignation. “What do you need from me?” he asked, his hands remaining wrapped around his mug. “I’m willing to help if you can ensure you’ll take him out of the picture.”
Finn clapped a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, drawing her attention his way. “Have you seen what this woman can do?” he asked. “The Tribe will make quick work of a lowlife like Ace.” Navi didn’t miss the way Joe’s eyes narrowed in recognition at the name. Without a doubt, he had gotten deeply involved in this. Whether he told them the truth or not, if he could help them track Rossi, the other details didn’t matter.
“We need to know where the main distribution is happening around here. We’ve already busted one of the trafficking spots, but if we don’t take out Rossi and excise the Landsliders from the area, the problems will grow.” Navi crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t suppose you performed the magic on location?”
Joe lifted his mug in salute. “Yeah, I worked with the big man himself. If locations are all you’re looking for, they’re yours. I don’t want to keep living with the constant threat on my life if I don’t cooperate. From either of you.” He stalked over to his kitchen table where a silver laptop lay open. “What’s your email?” he asked. Navi couldn’t help but lift a brow in response. This urban, techie shaman was the furthest from the others of his kind she’d met.
Navi strolled over to his table, placing her mug on the lacquer surface. There was something she didn’t like about Joe Ganzorig, but bias against shamans ran deep with her. They were the ones who’d imbued the spirit of the panther into her and marked her with these tattoos, the pain of the process forever engraved in her memory and on her body. She’d never quite been able to forgive them for stealing away her future. Navi typed her email into his computer, and he set to the keyboard, his fingers flying over the keys while he typed an address.
“So what exactly does this laced meth do?” she asked. “I’m not about to mess around with this shit to find out.”
He shot a nervous glance her way. “A couple of different varieties are being produced. Some will amp up the animal side of you until you’re berserker while others keep folks from shifting. I pretty much worked whatever spells they asked on the batches, no questions as to where they were being delivered or who was taking them.”
“Fucking delightful,” Navi muttered, running a hand through her hair. The last thing they needed to deal with on top of Mackey’s compulsion tricks were ’roided out wolves and mountain lions. The Landsliders were a cancer determined to metastasize through this land.
Joe paused, glancing between them as his pointer finger hovered, ready to click Send. “If I do this, he’s going to come for me. Meaning there’s no margin for fucking up. I’m placing my life in your hands.”
Navi bristled on instinct, annoyed at how the shaman acted like they wouldn’t be able to handle this shifter and his crew, as though she hadn’t handled thousands of these cases before. The acerbic words froze on her tongue when she caught the flash of fear in his eyes. The spirit of the panther chose her, not the shaman who performed the rite—they’d only been following through with what they’d agreed to do for the shifter community. Like always, the shamans were used and abused for their powers, more victims than anything. His fear made sense.
Before she could say anything, though, Finn stepped in. “I’ve got a personal grudge with Dale Rossi,” he growled, the sound resonating through the small rancher. “He won’t escape alive.”
Joe’s lips pressed tight together, but he nodded and hit Send. “I’m counting on the two of you, then.”
Navi took an obligatory sip of coffee, which
was still scorching, since this whole visit had gone much faster than anticipated. She placed the mug back on the countertop again. “Thanks for your help, Ganzorig. I know living around our kind can be dangerous for you guys.”
Joe snorted, a bitter look crossing his face. “Humans, shifters, it doesn’t matter. Our abilities are sought after to be used by just about everyone.”
Navi nodded in response before she clapped a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “Let’s head out.” Her chest squeezed tight. She understood the weight of being born into a power and position without being given a choice.
“Thanks, man,” Finn called as they headed for the door. Navi slipped her phone out of her pocket, the cell vibrating in her hand when she received the email. They exited into the late-morning sunshine, the warmth not quite dispelling the discomfort from visiting Joe, or the unsettling tug inside that the whole encounter had been far too easy. Still, if they stealthed to scout the location, even if the Landsliders had set another trap, she’d know where to pin the blame. And if the entire East Coast Tribe bore down on Ganzorig, even a shaman like him wouldn’t stand a chance.
Sweat pricked Navi’s temple once they stepped into the humidity and she couldn’t help how her heart sped on approach to her Plymouth. She glanced over at Finn. If they were doing any stealthing, it wouldn’t be until after the sun set, but she wasn’t ready to part ways with the Red Rock beta. Last night, she’d regretted the moment she left, frustration burning through her on multiple fronts. However, leaving had been the logical choice, necessary to keep her from leaping off the cliff into an unknown chasm.
“Does the Tribe pay you shit?” Finn asked, running a finger along the hood of her Plymouth. “I’d expect the lot of you to be driving around the country in style.”
Navi snorted. “Yeah, my first foray with a sweet ride ended quick after the car got set on fire by a shifter convict we were chasing down. The next one got smashed to pieces when we were hunting a murderer in Massachusetts. After pouring so much time and work into them, I didn’t have the heart to continue. I pretty much drive junkers at this point so my insurance company doesn’t kill me.” She hopped into the driver’s seat and tapped the weathered wheel.
Finn shook his head as he settled into the passenger side. “I never considered that part of your job. You see action like this all the time?”
Navi started the ignition and pulled out of this lot, beginning the crawl through these narrow, unpaved roads. She had one destination in mind. “Every damn city. Folks don’t call the Tribe in for tea. We’re there to solve problems, protect the shifter citizens and apprehend the criminals in our sector.”
“This summer’s been the most action I’ve seen in a long time,” Finn murmured, staring out of the window. “Sometimes it’s hard not to feel like I’m wasting away.”
Navi’s heart pounded a few notches faster at the sincerity in his voice and how he opened up around her. She wished she could do the same, wished the words didn’t stick in her throat every time she tried to speak about anything that squeezed her heart or flayed her insides. However, she wasn’t made that way. She could bark orders until the end of time and keep level in the middle of an emergency, but truths remained her own, because they were the sole things she could cling onto with the constant change of her surroundings.
“Going to drop me off?” Finn asked, the seat creaking when he leaned back. She could feel his gaze burning into her, hotter than the blazing sun, hotter than the sticky humidity that descended today.
“I’ve got one stop to make first,” she said, gripping the wheel tighter.
She wished for all the world she’d been born with a different purpose—as if the responsibility weighing down her life could melt away for one single moment. Like she could forget she was Tribe and simply be Navi Tremere.
Chapter Thirteen
Finn didn’t want this car ride to end.
Every moment he spent with Navi, even while hunting the Landsliders, brought them closer together. He couldn’t push himself to think about what would happen when she left, because after experiencing life with her in it, he didn’t want to return to the hollowness without. Navi brimmed with nerves as she slammed on the gas, enough to make the car rattle. Finn wrestled with tension of his own, because he found it harder and harder to deny the desire warming his blood with every passing minute.
To top it off, he had no idea where she was taking him. Down this direction lay most of the Red Rock territory and they were about to pass his gym—which would be the perfect place to burn off all this unspent energy.
“You can drop me off at my gym,” he said, the familiar turn in the highway coming up.
Navi cast him the side-eye. “Where did you think we were heading?”
Finn’s brows came together in confusion. He didn’t know why the woman remained close-lipped if she’d planned on dumping him off at his work, anyway. She still buzzed with tension, though, and he couldn’t read her. Under the midday sun like this, that was where she glowed. The hint of gold in her tone came out in the rich brown and the thick, glossy strands of her pixie cut were illuminated. She looked like some sort of sun goddess and he wanted to lick every inch of her.
Kelly’s Gym came into view and Navi slowed, pulling onto the beaten earth that constituted his parking lot. However, the lot wasn’t empty. Parked right in front of the gym was a car he’d know anywhere—one he’d last seen bashed in at Jared’s Auto.
“Figured you’d want to see your girl,” Navi said when she put the Plymouth into Park. The hesitation in her voice sounded so different from the Tribe member who barked out orders and struck fear into the common shifter. These moments, the ones where she showed this secret side of herself, were worth fighting for.
He stepped out of the car before striding across the lot to his Challenger. After the way the bear had mauled the frame, the thing would need a lot of work done between replacing the tires, pounding out the dents, repainting and other detailing to buff out the scratches and blemishes that marred her. After all the time and elbow grease he’d put into his girl, watching the bear crush her in front of Jared’s Auto had torn his heart out. Except as he stood before his Challenger, the dents and the scratches were all gone.
Footsteps sounded behind him as Navi approached. He could feel her presence, smell the vanilla and apple scent of her. “With the state she was in, the repairs were a challenge,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest when she stopped beside him. “No pun intended. Never pun intended.”
Finn reached out, running his hand along the smooth surface of his hood. While he knew his car well enough to notice the slight shifts in the paint where a fresh coat had been added on, the repair job was amazing. His throat tightened as overwhelming gratitude swept over him. Last night or this morning, she must have worked hours on this. He knew how much time it would have taken because he’d been trying to figure out when the hell he would be able to fix his girl.
She’d done all that—for him. Navi might not gush affection or talk emotion much, but this spoke volumes about the way she felt toward him. The woman had spent all this time and hard work fixing his car. Not out of duty, not out of any sense of guilt, but because she knew how much he loved this thing and she wanted to help. Fuck, if she wasn’t everything he longed for, everything he hoped for, in a partner.
He wanted to kiss her, wanted to sweep her into his arms and make her scream his name. His feelings for Navi had become far too strong to be denied, but if he could take anything from this gesture, words weren’t her forte. Fine then. He’d take a page from her book of actions. The way she glanced to him, the shyness in her glance was so opposite to the sensual, confident woman he’d first met, but the more he’d gotten to know her, the more he understood the vulnerable girl who resided within the fierce Tribe member, one who’d never gotten a childhood.
His palm grew warm from resting it on the hood of his fixed-up Challenger, and the warmth traveled straight to his chest. Finn turned to face Navi,
only separated from her by agonizing inches. Desire gleamed in her eyes as she met his gaze, the sort that brought him to his knees. She pursed her full lips together as if she mused on something, but she was always thinking, always worrying. He wanted to take away those worries until she existed in the moment.
He knew why they’d broken off their kiss the other night and why she’d left the party. Because what had developed between them ran much deeper than a one-night stand. The intensity of his feelings for Navi Tremere held the promise to mark him forever. However, even if she left him in the dust, even if this all crashed and burned, he’d forever regret not taking the time while he had the chance.
Finn stepped forward, crossing the space between them. He slipped his hand against her cheek and dipped to press his mouth to hers.
The moment they kissed, everything else melted away. The trucks rumbling along the highway, the birds chirping in the trees—everything grew distant compared to the honeyed taste of her. His lips caressed hers, coaxing her mouth open until he slipped his tongue inside. She twined her arms around him, her nails digging into his back in a possessive way that traveled straight to his cock. He wrapped his hands around her waist, those powerful curves sharpening his desire.
Finn leaned her against the car, needing to feel the heat of her against his skin. She moaned against his mouth as they pressed together, his cock stiffening in his jeans. This wasn’t enough—would never be enough for him. He wanted to taste her, to show gratitude for how she reached him. For the depth of emotion she stirred inside him. Finn grabbed her by the hips until he slid his hands around her ass to lift her against him. She wrapped her thighs around his hips and a low groan slipped from him. The urge to drive into her mounted in both man and wolf until he could barely register more than the deafening roar of his desire.
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